Daniel Webster Cluff (July 4, 1916 – March 5, 1989) was a United States Coast Guard officer who led one of the U.S. Coast Guard's largest small-boat rescue operations in the midst of a New England winter storm on February 18 through 19, 1952, as Chatham Lifeboat Station's officer-in-charge. Warrant Officer Cluff's expertise in small-boat life-saving operations and confidence in his men's abilities resulted in Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG 36500 crew's rescue of thirty-two survivors from the stern section of SS Pendleton "only minutes before it capsized."
The rescue of survivors from SS Pendletons stern was not the only rescue operation underway by the Chatham station in this storm. Cluff also oversaw the rescue efforts of another Chatham motor lifeboat that spent twenty two hours at sea assisting in several attempts to locate and rescue survivors from the bow of SS Pendleton and SS Fort Mercer. Simultaneously, while coordinating and directing all phases of Chatham's rescue operations, Cluff stayed in communication with the Coast Guard's First District, assisted local fisherman, and maintained cooperative relations with a large number of the press who reported on the rescue from the Chatham Lifeboat Station.
Chatham's rescue efforts during those two days were part of an even larger rescue operation overseen by the Coast Guard's First District that resulted in the rescue of seventy mariners—including those from SS Pendleton'''s stern—without any loss of life of the eight men from Chatham who risked their lives by heading out to sea in thirty-six-foot motor lifeboats. The media reported on this rescue operation extensively and pressed the Coast Guard for real-time information as rescue operations unfolded.
Cluff, who grew up in the fishing and Coast Guard community of Chincoteague, VA, was the son of a thirty-year career Coast Guardsman. Cluff served 13 years as an enlisted small-boat, life-saving operator and a combat tour in the Pacific as a World War II assault-boat coxswain before his promotion to warrant officer and assignment as officer-in-charge of Chatham Lifeboat Station in 1950.
Early life and education
Cluff was born in Chincoteague, Virginia, and grew up on the water as a Coast Guard dependent. His father was a career Coast Guardsman. After attending high school and business school, Cluff enlisted in the Coast Guard on December 17, 1936, in Chincoteague, Virginia.
Initial active duty service
Cluff began his thirty-year Coast Guard career as a surfman at Parramore Beach Station on Virginia's Eastern Shore, not far from his hometown of Chincoteague, Virginia. He served the first thirteen years of his career operating small boats with a focus on life-saving operations.
World War II service
During World War II, he served on USS McKean as an “assault boat coxswain” for beach-landing boats where he, along with his shipmates, earned a Navy Unit Commendation for their service during “The Guadalcanal Campaign, August 7 to September 5, 1942.” Cluff received three personal citations while serving aboard McKean: (1) “Officially commended by the British Government for work in connection with the rescue of the crew of SS Clan Skene…having been sunk by enemy submarine action on May 10, 1942, in the Caribbean Sea,” (2) “operated with Company D of the First Marine Raider Battalion in operations against the Japanese resulting in the capture of the Island of Tulagi, in the Solomon Island group on August 7-8-9, 1942;” and (3) “operated with units of the First Marine Raider Battalion, in an attack on a Japanese supply base at Taivu Point, Guadalcanal Island on September 8, 1942, resulting in routing the enemy and destroying a large quantity of supplies.”
After returning from duty in the Pacific, Cluff was again assigned to lifeboat stations as a boatswain mate. During this period he also served a sixteen-month tour on Coast Guard Cutter CG83303, a life-saving operations vessel.
Effective August 8, 1944, Cluff was issued a “permanent appointment as chief boatswain's mate in the U.S. Coast Guard, by reason of meritorious conduct in action against the enemy.” His specialty rating was chief boatswain mate (lifesaving) or BMC(L), which was the highest life-saving boat operator's rating.
